Apparatus and methods for generating aircraft control commands using nonlinear feedback gain

摘要

Altitude rate commands are generated and fed to an aircraft autopilot to cause the aircraft to transition to a non-level flight path which corresponds to a portion of a calculated flight path profile stored in a flight management computer. When capture of the non-level path is initiated, altitude rate commands are generated in accordance with the equation h.sub.cmd =h.sub.path +k.sub.h h where h.sub.path is the altitude rate of the non-level segment, h is an altitude difference between current aircraft altitude and an altitude point on the non-level segment, and k.sub.h is an altitude error gain which is a nonlinear inverse function of altitude rate error, h, and which is calcuated in accordance with the equation k.sub.h =k.sub.1 -k.sub.2 . vertline. h where k.sub.1 and k.sub.2 are predetermined constants.